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Terran Federation
The Terran Federation, or just the Federation was an oppressive totalitarian regime. It was the main power bloc against which Roj Blake's rebels struggled. Later Kerr Avon continued the fight after Blake's disappearance following the Intergalactic War. Name While normally referred to simply as the Federation, a lengthier title was occasionally used. Travis referred to himself as an emissary of the Earth Federation at one point, while various legal representatives and Servalan herself spoke in formal terms of the Terran Federation. Government *Title: Terran Federation *Type: Totalitarian Quasi-Fascist State *Capital: Earth *Head of state: President of the High Council *Head of government: President of the High Council *Legislature: High Council History The Federation formed at least 200 years before the Roj Blake's attempted attack on Control. The Federation primarily expanded its territory though conquest, enslaving weaker worlds and exploiting their resources to fuel the military. In other cases, the Federation would infiltrate more distant worlds where they would help a local tyrant achieve power or install a malleable ruler. (A: Bounty, B: Horizon) These puppet leaders would rule over their own planets, but under the constant shadow of the main Federation and their planets would eventually become part of the Federation. Exactly how far the Federation's power and inflluence spread was never clearly indicated; however, many neutral worlds and worlds beyond the Federation's influence existed and thrived. The Federation maintained control of its citizens through fear and through dosing the air and water with pacification drugs. In extreme cases such as Roj Blake's, brainwashing and re-programming were utilised when simply killing the individual would not result in the best outcome for the Federation. In at least one case, a planet was equipped with a radiation bomb that would wipe out the inhabitants in the case of rebellion. On Horizon the Kommissar indicated that the incident of rebellion was less than one in 100,000 and that many of these were snuffed out in youth. Despite all these efforts, or perhaps because of them, the Federation was never able to quite stamp out resistance. The Federation's main seat of power was located on Earth, the capital world where most inhabitants serve with drug-induced loyalty. The Federation was commanded by the President of the High Council, below which was the Supreme Commander, who was in control of the military and Space Command. Servalan held the position of Supreme Commander. Later, when Star One began to break down, she staged a coup and took over as President. She initially ruled alone, without a High Council or a Supreme Commander. The High Council was later restored ; the office of Supreme Commander was offered to a Space Commander if he captured the Liberator, but this attempt failed. History Origins The exact time period in which the Federation operated is impossible to ascertain due to the adoption of the New Calendar. While it is possible the Federation instituted the New Calendar upon coming to power there is no hard evidence for this. It was at least 200 years old by the time of Blake's rebellion as Blake referred to it starting to expand around this time. The circumstances of the Federation's creation are equally vague, although Blake again refers to the destruction of old places of worship around the time of the New Calendar's adoption. During Blake's time The Federation controlled significant areas of human space when Blake commenced his struggle against it. Federation space was divided between the Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds, although it is unknown on what basis, or if this was in any way a meaningful distinction. There is evidence that at least some of the Outer Planets had Federation links, although Outer Planets and Outer Worlds may be interchangable terms. The population of Earth lived strictly controlled lives, forbidden to leave their domed cities and fed pacification drugs in their air and water. Little was seen of everyday life on Earth or indeed other Federation colonies but it appears that the standard of living was relatively high. Set against this must be the stringently repressive regime the Federation imposed. Political activity opposed to the Federation was banned and a long list of atrocities carried out against rebel groups can be built up: the followers of Blake, Hal Mellanby, and Bran Foster were all massacred, half the population of Saurian Major were killed by bacteriological weapons, and Blake's own memories and personality were altered to destroy his status as a figurehead of the freedom movement. However, the Federation did not encourage the abuse of power by its agents, and Travis was placed on trial for the massacre of innocent civilians on the planets Auros and Zircaster. There was organised crime within the Federation, most notably the Terra Nostra which controlled the supply of the drug Shadow. The Terra Nostra's chairman was actually the President of the Federation, which may explain why it was allowed to operate. Slavery was legal in at least some parts of the Federation and the families of deserters from the military were routinely sold as slaves. Servalan's Coup Shortly before the Andromedan attack on the Federation, the existing President was deposed by Servalan, the supreme commander of the Federation military, and the Federation became an actual military dictatorship. It had been suggested before that while Space Command was in theory controlled by the Administration, the reverse was secretly true, and now it was a fact. Servalan openly styled herself President and Supreme Commander but was referred to on at least one occasion as Supreme Empress. Shortly afterwards numerous worlds in the Federation were afflicted by a series of disasters brought on by computer failure. The truth soon became clear: Star One, the centre of the computer network, was in the hands of alien infiltrators intent on invading the Federation. After the alarm was raised (by Blake, ironically enough) the entire Federation fleet was mobilised to combat the invading Andromedan armada. The Intergalactic War and its Aftermath The Andromedans were eventually repelled but at enormous cost - the Federation was in disarray with 80% of its fleet destroyed. Tarrant claimed that the remnant was really the Federation in name only, while Orac referred to its "collapse". However Servalan was able to reconstitute it with impressive speed and it was expanding again by the time the Liberator visited Ultraworld, a particularly spectacular feat given she seemed to spend most of her time plotting to capture the Liberator. She also had a new presidential home, Residence One, constructed at considerable expense. Servalan's rule seems to have been tumultuous as there is evidence to suggest there were at least two unsuccessful attempts to remove her from power. She was finally deposed during her absence on Terminal. It was believed Servalan had died, in a rear-guard action on the planet Geddon according to one account. New Expansion After this the Federation began to expand with astonishing speed, mainly due to the Pacification Programme whereby world after world could be easily subjugated. The territories lost as a result of the War were rapidly claimed and by the time of Blake and Avon's final encounter on Gauda Prime it seemed the Federation was as strong and authoritarian as it had ever been. Political Leadership The official leader of the Federation was the President. The President's full title was President of the Terran Federation, Ruler of the High Council, Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds, High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets, Lord General of the Six Armies and Defender of the Earth. How the President was selected is not known. At one point the President was also the leader of the Terra Nostra, but whether the two positions were always held by the same individual (making the Terra Nostra a clandestine agency of the Federation itself) was not made clear. Below the President was a High Council with the Senate also mentioned on one occasion. During Servalan's presidency the High Council was apparently dissolved, only to be reinstated when she lost power. Administration The Administration was a body involved in the running of the Federation, although exact details of the connection between the two were never explicitly revealed. Citizens of Earth usually referred to the Administration rather than the Federation when talking about the authorities, so it may be that the Federation controlled the colonies while the Administration controlled Earth. However the two were clearly closely linked with the Administration able to set policy for Federation armed forces (it was the Administration who ordered the Liberator be captured intact) and also held responsible for the security of the colonies (at one point Servalan is informed that Outer Planet authorities are displeased with the Administration's defence system). It seems most probable that the Administration was simply the governing body and civil service of the Federation. Space Command Space Command was comprised of the Federation's military forces. The Supreme Commander was appointed by the President and, in theory, answerable to the civil authorities. However within the military itself it was sometimes believed that Space Command held the real power within the Federation. Law Federation law was strict and punishment severe. Crimes were rated by category. For instance, leaving the main city complex on Earth without authorisation was a Category-4 infraction. Category-9 crimes, such as child molestation, (of which Roj Blake was framed), was stated by the arbiter at Blake's trial as the most severe. In any case, criminals were commonly tried unfairly in Federation courts, where a list of mock charges was sometimes added to a defendant's original charge. Sentences were typically life imprisonment, torture and/or execution. Probably the worst fate would be "re-education" under the pacification programme. If the Federation saw use for keeping the criminal alive, they would undergo brainwashing in an attempt to reform them into content citizens and put them back into society as mindless slaves. Mutoids were one of the most extreme forms of brainwashing. The subject's mind was rebuilt completely so that their only desire was service to the Federation. As a form of control, Mutoids had to consume a special "blood serum" as sustenance, which led many to deem them as vampires. (A: Seek-Locate-Destroy, Duel) Religion of any form was banned under Federation law. Possibly because of this, the Federation had changed the Earth's Gregorian calendar (the so-called "Old Calendar") to the "New Calendar" for date keeping. :During ''The Way Back the date was given as "52.6.8" suggesting by the New Calendar the year was either 152 or 252. It is uncertain when the "New Calendar" was set in place, but it was possibly established at the founding of the Federation.'' Military forces The Federation apparently had the largest military force in the galaxy and it used the threat of invasion to intimidate non-aligned worlds. Occasionally the Federation might employ more subtle methods of taking over worlds, such as installing puppet governors under their control, supporting revolutionary forces loyal to their cause, and inciting wars between worlds by manipulating delicate political issues. In the latter case, if war broke out between worlds, the Federation would enter as a neutral arbiter and peacekeeping force making it easier for eventual take over. The Federation military was made up of troopers who wore a black uniform, sometimes with silver trim, and helmets with masks to hide their faces. The Federation logo was prominently featured on the upper left side of the uniform. They were issued "paraguns", a kind of handheld gun, however, when fired, sparks and smoke would exit the barrel, suggesting it fired a kind of projectile, or possibly a small packet of plasma, although the gun's report sounded nothing like a conventional firearm. The Federation also used special soldiers called "Mutoids" who were humans that had undergone a special conditioning to make them absolutely obedient to their handlers and part of the conditioning involved the removal of all memory of their past lives. They functioned as pilots, technicians, bodyguards and shock troopers. Mutoids appeared to be mostly female and wore the same uniform as troopers except for a characteristic black skullcap on their heads which possibly housed cybernetic components and may have been directly attached to their bodies as part of their conditioning. Mutoids were also required to consume a "blood serum" to stay alive and this led to the belief by some in the Federation that they were vampires. The blood they consumed could be taken from a captured victim using a wrist mounted device that extended a tube and syringe. In the episode "Duel", the Mutoid who accompanied Travis attempted to drain Jenna of blood before Travis ordered it to stop. It was also suggested that the mutoid's obedience and loyalty might come into question if it did not properly feed in time. Federation officers appeared to have no standard uniform design, although they typically wore black. They were seen throughout the series in varied styles of dress that differed between episodes. Troop commanders and ship captains typically wore similar-looking uniforms as their subordinates. Spacecraft The Federation naval fleet was composed of various types of ships of varied design, however the most commonly encountered by Blake and his team were dark-red bullet-shaped craft called Pursuit Ships. Travis had taken command of the latest version, the Starburst-class, which were the only ships with a top speed capable of keeping up with the Liberator. Following the Intergalactic War Tarrant identified the attacking pursuit ships as "the new mark fours" which appeared identical to the Starburst-class, yet apparently more advanced and maneuverable. Individually, the ships were no match for the Liberator which often destroyed them with a single shot from her neutron guns. However the attacking ships usually ganged up on her with plasma bolt volleys which could easily cripple Liberator once her power reserves ran down. This often forced Blake, and later Tarrant, to come up a clever tactic to save the ship when retreat was not an option. President Servalan was seen using several kinds of ships throughout her time as Supreme Commander and Commissioner Sleer. For a time she used an organic-looking black cruiser that looked nothing like the Federation pursuit ships, or anything built by humans, and appeared almost alien in design. It had a mouth-like opening on the front that could swallow ships. The craft appeared shortly after the fall of Star One and the intergalactic war with the Andromeda aliens. Because the Federation had reportedly lost so much of its fleet in that battle, the ship might have been a captured spoil from that war. Invited to the planet Sardos Servalan used this ship which was able to land on the surface, and was claimed by a renegade Federation commander who planned to use alien technology to replicate Servalan's ship, suggesting that it was valuable warship. When Servalan renamed herself as Commissioner Sleer she utilised a white-looking craft with black and red stripes, which could also land. Whilst investigating the planet Virn Servalan utilised another ship that could land, a yellow craft with the Federation logo on the side with landing capability, suggestive of a scout vessel. Opposition The Federation is the main adversary of Roj Blake, captain of the Liberator and the ad-hoc leader of a small group of rebels who oppose Federation rule. Blake - an outspoken rebel - was captured and tortured for spreading sedition. His family was also executed for his crimes, but instead of executing Blake, (and making a martyr of him) the Federation tried to brainwash him into a content citizen. Blake later overcame the brainwashing, remembered who he really was and what the Federation had done to him, and vowed to bring them down and free the galaxy. The Federation maintains its power from an automated computer control centre known as Star One, which is not only the nerve centre of the military network, but also monitors political situations and intelligence. Star One also controls all aspects of Federation life, including deep space computer flight coordination, global climate control on Federation worlds, and communications relays. Although Star One is well defended, it is the Federation's "weak spot", for if it were ever destroyed, the Federation would break down and could be easily overthrown, thus finding and destroying Star One was Blake's primary goal throughout the second series. This Federation facility, also known as "Control", was originally located on Earth. Blake originally targeted this terrestrial facility, but found that it was a decoy upon penetrating it. Blake then learned it had been moved to a secret location thirty years beforehand. A vast protected the Federation against incursions, controlled by or through Star One in order to facilitate the Andromeda aliens' incursion this was disabled. Star One was later destroyed as the aliens advanced on Federation territory. After the destruction of Star One and the loss of 80% of their fleet in the Intergalactic War, the Federation fell apart. However, by the fourth series, the Federation was regaining power due to new mind-control drugs. Servalan, under the alias Commissioner Sleer was slowly regaining her power. Avon later united the various anti-Federation resistance groups and gives them the antidote to the mind control drugs leaving the fate of the Federation uncertain. Category:Terran Federation